Chelsea crowned Women's Super League winners in England

(Reuters) - Chelsea were awarded the Women's Super League title and Aston Villa were declared the winners of the second-tier Women's Championship by England's Football Association (FA) on Friday after the season was ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The FA Board has reached a majority decision to decide the 2019-20 FA Women's Super League and FA Women's Championship on a basic point-per-game basis, with promotion and relegation determined on sporting merit," the FA said in a statement.

"As a result, the FA Board has today confirmed the decision to award the 2019-20 Barclays FA Women's Super League title to Chelsea FC Women, and to award the 2019-20 FA Women's Championship title to Aston Villa Women FC."

The decision to award the title on a points-per-game basis represents a blow to Manchester City.

City were top of the WSL table and a point ahead of second-placed Chelsea, having played one game more than their rivals, when the season was halted in mid-March.

Both teams qualified for next season's Women's Champions League.

Bottom-placed Liverpool, whose men's team are two wins away from securing a first top-flight crown in 30 years, will be relegated to the second-tier for the 2020-21 season.

"As the 2019-20 results were expunged between Tier 3 to Tier 7 of the women's pyramid, there will be no relegation or promotion between the FA Women's Championship and Tier 3 this season," the FA added.

The Women's FA Cup is at the quarter-final stage and the FA said an update on the status of the competition would be issued after a board meeting later this month.

It added that the FA were working with clubs as well as other stakeholders to plan for next season with target start dates to be announced soon.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Toby Davis)